America's National Game. Albert G. Spalding
and in the production of great ball players, none was more potent than the city just emerging from the chrysalis stage of villagedom. It required the quality of young manhood which had been developed in field and furrow, in combination with that which had come from cash desk and counter, from forge and furnace, to present the American game in all its requirements of strength, agility and capacity to deal with emergencies. For, be it known, comparatively few of those whose names have found a place on the Baseball Scroll of Fame came originally from the big cities of our land. It was towns like Rockford, Illinois, from whence came Ross Barnes; Marshalltown, Iowa, with Anson to its credit; Fort Wayne, Indiana, with Matthews as its contribution; Rochester, N. Y., with Sutton among its products; Corning, N. Y., with Jim White, and a long list of other cities of the third and fourth classes, whose splendid players attracted attention of the country in the early seventies, giving hope even to the small town, village and hamlet, that, enclosed in the overalls of some of their vigorous sons might be an embryo pitcher or catcher, or shortstop or baseman, or batsman, whose future achievements on the diamond would make famous the burg that had nurtured an artist of such phenomenal prowess.
In this chapter it is my purpose to write, briefly, the story of the Forest City Baseball Club, of Rockford, Illinois, presenting it as a type of clubs in other small cities, which in the early development of the game did so much to add prestige to the pastime, and whose influence for the upbuilding and maintaining of the dignity of the sport, as well as skill and science in play, is felt unto this hour. I write of the Forest City Club, not because it was in all respects greater than any other — although I shall be able to disclose for it a record of which no friend need be ashamed — but because I was a part of it; because with it I began my active Baseball career, and because I know its story better perhaps than I do that of any other Baseball organization.
In writing of the Forest City Club, of Rockford, I am compelled by the very nature of the case to introduce local facts, probably of greater interest to me than to anyone else in the world; but I would be guilty of gross injustice, of base ingratitude, were I not in this, my only work on the game, to acknowledge appreciation of the sound and unselfish advice of some, the kind words of cheer and encouragement from others, and were I to withhold an expression of the high regard I have ever entertained for my first comrades in the game, to whom I bade a regretful farewell when I elected to make a business of what had been theretofore simply a pleasant pastime.
Hence, as an apology for and in explanation of that which seems purely personal in the few following pages, I beg the reader to have in mind that much of sentiment still clings to the memories of those days of my early Baseball career, and I could not refer to the times without also recalling the men with whom I was then so closely and so agreeably associated.
My association with the game of Baseball began at Rockford, in 1865. As a school boy, I belonged to a club called the Pioneers. Since nobody in the team was over sixteen years of age, the title may have appeared to some as a misnomer; but it sounded all right. Most of us had heard our fathers spoken of as " pioneers," and we knew it could not mean anything bad. The Pioneers put up a pretty fair article of ball, for boys — if I do say it — and it was not long before we became ambitious. There were at Rockford at that time two amateur rival nines — the Forest Citys, just organized, and the Mercantiles. These played occasional matches, the Forest Citys having rather the better of the argument.
Ross Barnes, afterwards to win fame on the diamond as one of the greatest second basemen of his time, and in my opinion one of the best all-around players the game has produced, was a member of the Pioneers, and he and I conceived the idea that we could " do " the Mercantiles, whose players were for the most part salesmen in the several stores of the city. A challenge was therefore sent; but the tradesmen at first regarded it as a joke; they were not in the game to play with children. However, after much insistence on our part, and some chaffing, perhaps, by members of the Forest Citys, the Mercantiles finally accepted. The game took place one fine day in the fall of 1865, with the Forest City players present and rooting good and hard for " the kids." The game resulted in a score of 26 to 2, in favor of the Pioneers.
Call it science, skill, luck, or whatever you please, I had at that time, when only fifteen years old, acquired the knack of pitching winning ball, and in the game with the Mercantiles it was first recognized. The Forest Citys immediately made overtures to Barnes and me and in 1 866 we both became members of that club.
The Forest City Club, at the time Barnes and I were admitted to membership, consisted of Dr. S. J. Sawyer, pitcher; A. Barker, catcher; H. S. Warner, shortstop; G. E. King, first base; T. T. Webster, second base; S. Lakin, third base; W. Stearns, left field; M. L. Wheeler, center field; J. Brown, right field, and J. H. Manny, scorer. The executive officers of the club were: H. H. Waldo, President; I. S. Hyatt, Vice-President; George E. King, Secretary; George P. Ross, Treasurer. The Directors were E. C. Dunn, H. N. Starr and C. G. Manlove.
In the games following the reorganization of the Forest City Club, the line-up was changed and the following players appeared: Spalding, pitcher; King, catcher; Cone, first base; Addy, second base; Stearns, Lighthart or Stires, third base; Barnes, shortstop; Wheeler or Warner, right field; Cheney or Osborne, center field; Barker or Waxham, left field.
With a team thus placed, the Forest City Baseball Club entered upon its public career in 1866. Previous to this time it had devoted its energies almost entirely to practice games and matches with local and nearby nines. Now, however, it began to receive and issue challenges, with the result that in nearly every instance victory favored the Rockford players.
It was thus early in my Baseball career that I came face to face for the first time with the business end of the game. It came about in this way: The Forest Citys, although a comparatively young organization, as we have seen, had already attracted considerable attention by reason of many victories; and commercial travelers from Chicago and other cities, who were fond of Baseball, would so schedule their trips as to be at Rockford when we played. I was employed at the time at a very small salary in a Rockford grocery, whose proprietor affected to be quite proud of my efficiency as a pitcher — but who regularly "docked" me when absent from the store. Therefore, when I was approached one day by a Chicago man with an offer of $40 per week to take a position as bill clerk with a wholesale grocery house of that city, with the understanding that my store duties would be nominal, and a chance given to play ball frequently, without affecting my salary to reduce it, I found no difficulty so far as my Rockford job was concerned in making up my mind as to what I ought to do.
But there were other considerations that might not be so easily disposed of. I was a mere youth both in age and in experience. I dared not trust my own judgment as to what was best. My home was and had long been at Rockford, with my widowed mother. Ought I, just as I was becoming a man, to leave her whose tender care and fond affection had been so lavishly bestowed upon me through the years of my boyhood life? Would she approve of my going to a large city, with its dangers in the busy whirl, and its greater dangers in the temptations that so thickly abound?
Moreover, what did this offer mean? That it meant separation from the Forest City Club was quite apparent; but that problem did not count; I could not afford to rest my business interests on a mere sentiment. But there was a moral side to the question which I might not ignore. Were my services worth the proffered salary? What did I know of the wholesale grocery business that I should be offered $40 per week as bill clerk? Was I not being paid for my skill as a ball player rather than as an expert in the grocery trade? And, if so, would I not be violating at least the spirit of that rule of the National Association of Baseball Players that forbade the payment of salaries to players?
Again, from a mere business standpoint, would it be wise for me at my age to sever the relations that had been established at the home of my youth? All my acquaintances were at Rockford. Did not they constitute an asset with which I might not lightly part? All these, and many other questions, presented themselves to my mind, and I did what I would now advise any other boy to do in like circumstances. I carried the whole subject to my mother. I knew that she approved of my connection with the game of Baseball as a pastime; but how she would view it as a vocation I was not sure at all.
When I broached the subject, I saw at once that it distressed her. She, far better than I, realized what it meant. The commercial aspect of